Creating your own monster or fantasy creature is a lot of fun. It really exercises the creative side of your brain as you develop images of pure imagination. Parents - don’t discourage your kids from their imaginative drawings; it’s here where they develop inventive skills useful in so many occupations in life.

Step 1: Draw a circle and a cross where you want your character to face.

Step 2: Draw basic shapes of the facial features.

Step 3: Add detail and then strengthen lines.

Step 4: Once you are happy with your line work, add colour.

Shaping Your Fantasy Creature

Your fantasy creature is going to be a mix of animals and different things from nature. I use many reference photos when creating my monsters. It's important to firstly flesh out the creature with its basic shapes. Below are some examples of the shaping process plus the inspiration behind my creature.

Creature:Dingbat. Inspirations:Bat, Pixie, Mouse

Creature: Bailup. Inspirations:Snail, Monkey, Old Man

Creature:Fair Dinkum. Inspirations:Rocks, Man

Creature: Billyo. Inspirations:Horse, Goat, Unicorn

Creature:Draggle. Inspirations:Platypus, Duck

Creature: Beach Dragon . Inspirations:Dog, Eel, Surfboard

Creature:Dropbear. Inspirations:Koala, Cat

Advanced Tips on Drawing and Painting a Monster with Watercolour

For the examples below, I have used a 2B & HB pencil, a Stub, Watercolour paints and Watercolour paper (Arches - Smooth - 300GSM).

Step 1: On smooth, 300gsm watercolour paper I first draw my monster. I use a stub to smudge in the pencil work to give it a little tone.Step 2: I lightly paint in the shadows using a diluted black.Step 3: Using yellow ochre I paint my first layer.Step 4: To deepen the shadows, I paint with red. For the drool – a wash of cyan. Step 5: I selectively add green.Step 6: I finish off with a dark brown to emphasize the shadows.